Author name: Tom Evans

The startup companies and residents at SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, will soon have access to new locally-owned eateries and retail shops.

Going out to dinner in southern Scottsdale? Pretty soon, you may just be going to SkySong. SkySong, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation and its development team are now leasing a planned 10,500 square foot retail building to be built on the northeast corner of Scottsdale Road and SkySong Boulevard.

Arizona State University’s Skysong Innovation Center got a visitor from Washington on Wednesday.

Scottsdale, Ariz. – U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker today toured SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, and met with local entrepreneurs. SkySong is a mixed use development designed to help companies grow by providing business services and programs offered or facilitated by Arizona State University, which include access to new technologies, capital networks, and a skilled workforce. In her role as chair of the President’s Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) initiative, Secretary Pritzker is focused on identifying successful ecosystems that support innovation and competitiveness, like SkySong, which can be replicated around the country.

Construction has been completed on the SkySong Apartments Scottsdale, with a Grand Opening Event taking place on Tuesday evening. The final phase of the 325-unit community is now available for lease, completing the approximately 19-month construction period. The apartments are already enjoying strong leasing both to people who work within the project and those who want to live in this dynamic area of the Valley.

At ASU, budding entrepreneurs looking for funding are in an enviable position. The university has developed a series of support options for startup ventures — be they faculty researchers with a scientific application that can be commercialized, students promoting their own businesses, or cross-functional teams using entrepreneurship to enact social change — that provide them with the opportunity to compete for the funds they need to further their startups.

SkySong, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center prides itself on being everything anyone could want in a place to locate their innovative and growing business. But sometimes, the more than 50 companies and 1,000 employees want a little bit of the outside world as well.

So, to enhance the sense of community and interaction at the core of the project, the SkySong team has launched two exciting features for the enjoyment of current tenants and employees, as well as the nearby neighborhood.